Proton sales continue to surge upwards, even in a month that saw the Total Industry Volume decline

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Proton sales continue to surge upwards, even in a month that saw the Total Industry Volume decline

It’s usually the case new vehicle sales in Malaysia that there is a big drop in numbers for the month following a festive period. June this year was no exception, coming after the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays. Additionally, looking back to June 2018, that was also the first month of the GST tax holiday period when sales began to rocket as purchase prices were reduced.

Highest market share since July 2015
However, for Proton, there was still an upward surge one month after setting a sales high in May. In fact, with 7,615 vehicles delivered nationwide, the brand recorded its highest market share since July 2015 (estimated by Proton pending data to be released by the Malaysian Automotive Association). The share of 18.1% of the market was achieved in a month when the Total Industry Volume (TIV) was estimated to have shrunk by 30.8% to 42,090 units.

And even when comparing to June last year, Proton’s sales volume grew by 23%, helping the Malaysian carmaker finish second overall on the sales chart for the third consecutive month. It also contributed to an overall sales growth of 61% for the first 6 months of 2019, putting the company on track to achieve its sales targets for the year.

X70 leads SUV segment
The X70 SUV continues to be one of the stars and for the first half of the year, 15,175 units were delivered. It has cemented its position as the cumulative sales leader in the overall SUV segment, impressive for a newcomer that has been in the market less than a year.

The other models also performed equally well. Sales of the Saga continued to grow with 2,541 units delivered in June, contributing to a volume growth of 27% over the first 6 months of 2018. The other models, now updated with intelligent features, also saw strong bookings.

“By achieving a market share of 18.1% in June, Proton continues to show positive sales growth this year despite the tough market conditions following the Hari Raya holidays. Our year-to-date market share currently stands at 14.7% and is a big improvement of our 2018 figure of 10.8%. For the second half of the year, we will concentrate on continuing to build our sales and exciting the market further by introducing new and updated models as was promised at the beginning of the year,” said Dr Li Chunrong, CEO of Proton.